Clark, Wyoming

Tim Hadaway, my supervisor at work, brought a big box of apples to work in the back of his truck and let everybody on our shift take some home.  I brought home a big bag of apples and Bob made 8 pints of apple butter!

The weather turned cool and rainy again.  At the last minute we got some 2x2's and some plexiglass to make some windows for the chicken coop.  The morning we did this was dry, but it was 47° and very windy.  The wind kept blowing the wood and plastic off of the table!

We made frames out of the 2x2's that just fit into the window openings.  I ran the wood across the router table with a veining bit in it.  This cut two parallel dadoes in the wood to receive the plexiglass.  We cut out the plexiglass, but this was not easy because the plastic was very brittle in the cold air and it kept cracking!  We squirted a bead of clear silicone caulk into the grooves, then put the plastic in, clamped it up, and drove 4 screws into each frame to hold it together.

I pressed the windows into their opening and had to shave some wood off with a block plane to ensure a snug fit.  This will hopefully keep the wind and rain out of the coop.

Our neighbor, Dennis Coleman, brought his pneumatic siding nailer up to the house so that we can borrow it.  I am going to get up on the ladder and feel each piece of siding for looseness and then add one or two nails to the loose pieces to hopefully hold them still and keep them quiet in the winter winds.

After I get all of the siding quieted down, I am going to inject color-matched caulking around all of the exterior doors and windows.  I do not know why the contractor did not do this, but it needs to be done to keep water, snow and ice out from behind the siding.

Today we drove to Billings and did our grocery shopping.  We kept to our budget and brought a bunch of food home.  This was the first grocery run with our new truck and it's not easy keeping all of the plastic bags together in one spot on that big bed!

We also went to a couple of craft supply stores and picked up a few interesting things for the house.  We stopped at Harbor Freight Tools and looked at small electric pumps too - we need to get a pump to backflush vinegar through our hot water heater.  I think we found one there that will do the job for us.

Tomorrow is Bob's 52nd birthday.  He opened his gifts this evening.  He got a Kindle reader, a really nice silver paisley vest, and a stove top food smoker.  Tomorrow morning we have to drive to Cody because I have a monthly All API Meeting that I have to attend.  Bob is going too - he will visit the bank and grocery store while I am in the meeting.

Clark, Wyoming

This morning, after walking Buddy, I checked on the hens.  One of them was coming out of a nest box as I observed from the service door.  I went around and checked the box and there was a green egg in the box!  It was still hot - it just came out of the hen!

We get a couple of eggs each day from the girls.  Here is a picture of Bob showing some of the eggs we've collected recently.

After this I started to trim pieces of PVC pipe on my compound mitre saw and gluing them to the tee we bought so that we can seal up the cistern and make it sanitary.

You see, when the plumber installed the pump in the cistern, he hooked up the wires to the pump and ran the wire up the vent pipe and over the top of it and out.  That was it.  The electrician hooked up the wires to the relay box inside the house, but neither one of them thought it was their job to make the penetration into the water tank proper.  We couldn't even get the cap on the vent pipe! 

Gordy came up after noon and cut the cable, stripped the insulation back, and made the connection with wire nuts inside a small junction box on the side of the PVC tee.  I pulled a level string from the uphill tank filler pipe and made sure that the top of the vent pipe in the downhill tank is the same elevation.  This is the way it should have been done in the beginning.  Now bugs, dirt, and mice will not be able to get into our water storage tank.

Later we got the fabric, sewing machine, iron, ironing board, and sewing kit out.  We made some primitive pleated panels for our kitchen window.  I could have made them more sophisticated, but this will do.  In the winter, when it gets dark early, we can just pull these curtains and have more privacy inside the house now.

I picked all of the small green tomatoes from the plants and put them into a paper bag in hopes that they will ripen up.  If they do not, we will dice them up with peppers and onions and make a salsa or relish.  We need to pull the dried up dead plants up and burn them now.

After reviewing the maintenance requirements in the owner's manual, it looks like we won't have too much maintenance to do on the truck.  Oil changes depend on how much you are driving the truck and how hard you are driving it.  It notifies you when an oil change is needed and this could be over 8000 miles.  The first scheduled maintenance items are at the 2 year point.  Spark plugs do not get changed until 10 years.  Air filters are scheduled for 6 years (or sooner if operating in dusty conditions).  The intervals are pretty long and I am okay with that!

Right now I am taking some time off from work.  I will return to work on Friday night.  I have three more weeks of nights, then we rotate to day shift again.

Farewell Toyota Tacoma

1996 Toyota Tacoma VIN:  4TANL42N6TZ206075

purchased                        06-01-99                      38000 miles
oil / filter                          12-27-99                      44291 miles
oil / filter                           06-12-00                     48248 miles
air filter                             06-26-00                     48507 miles
pcv                                   06-26-00                     48507 miles
oil / filter                           09-22-00                     51775 miles
spark plugs                       11-10-00                     54420 miles
rotate tires                        11-10-00                     54420 miles
oil / filter                           02-20-01                     56537 miles
front brake pads               05-01-01                     58162 miles
new windshield                 05-21-01                     59319 miles
oil / filter                           06-10-01                     59609 miles
new tires (4)                     12-26-01                     61794 miles
oil / filter                           03-14-02                     64572 miles
oil / filter                           07-07-02                     69845 miles
oil / filter                           07-18-03                     76401 miles
spark plugs                       07-18-03                     76401 miles
rotate tires                        07-18-03                     76401 miles
flush/refill antifreeze           07-18-03                     76401 miles
rear axle oil change           07-18-03                      76401 miles
manual trans fluid              07-18-03                      76401 miles
oil / filter                           08-30-03                      80504 miles
new p/s belt                      09-02-03                      80525 miles
new alternator belt            09-02-03                      80525 miles
oil / filter                           10-31-03                      83330 miles
new radiator hoses            11-21-03                      85267 miles
oil / filter                            01-03-04                     87376 miles
air filter                              01-03-04                     87376 miles
oil / filter                            03-13-04                     90727 miles
oil / filter                            05-25-04                     93965 miles
air filter                              05-25-04                     93965 miles
oil / filter                            08-28-04                     98453 miles
new tires (4)                      10-09-04                     99884 miles
oil / filter                            01-03-05                   102309 miles
air filter                              01-03-05                   102309 miles
pcv                                    01-03-05                   102309 miles
front brake pads                02-05-05                   103155 miles
rebuild front calipers          02-05-05                   103155 miles
oil / filter                            04-10-05                   105184 miles
oil / filter                            06-18-05                   108518 miles
oil / filter                            09-10-05                   112500 miles
new storage battery           10-05-05                   113548 miles
oil / filter                            12-23-05                   116722 miles
oil / filter                            04-14-06                   119575 miles
oil / filter                            06-03-06                   122989 miles
flush/refill antifreeze            06-03-06                   122989 miles
new front tires (2)              08-12-06                   124466 miles
oil / filter                            09-10-06                   126118 miles
spark plugs                        09-15-06                   126253 miles
new ignition wires              09-15-06                    126253 miles
new distributor cap            09-15-06                    126253 miles
new rear tires (2)               11-02-06                    127659 miles
oil / filter                            12-02-06                    129491 miles
front brake rotors              12-09-06                    129663 miles
oil / filter                            03-04-07                    131186 miles
rotate tires                         03-04-07                    131186 miles
oil / filter                            04-06-07                    134607 miles
air filter                              04-06-07                    134607 miles
catalytic converter              04-19-07                    134913 miles
oil / filter                            07-15-07                     137009 miles
rotate tires                         07-15-07                     137009 miles
oil / filter                            12-02-07                     140257 miles
clutch master cylinder        03-04-08                     141900 miles
clutch slave cylinder           03-04-08                     141900 miles
rotate tires                         05-17-08                     143369 miles
oil / filter                            05-17-08                     143369 miles
air filter                              05-17-08                     143369 miles
new clutch                         10-07-08                     145584 miles
oil / filter                            11-08-08                     146287 miles
new storage battery            02-17-09                    147767 miles
rotate tires                          06-13-09                    149369 miles
oil / filter                             06-21-09                    149457 miles
air filter                               02-06-10                    152535 miles
oil / filter                             02-06-10                    152535 miles
rotate tires                          07-24-10                    154659 miles
oil / filter                             10-16-10                    155738 miles
front brake rotors               11-07-10                     156067 miles
oil / filter                             05-08-11                     158534 miles
rotate tires                          05-08-11                     158534 miles
new tires (4)                       10-03-11                     160978 miles
new starter motor               10-28-11                      161482 miles
new radiator hoses              11-06-11                     161754 miles
spark plugs                         11-11-11                      161870 miles
ignition wires                       11-12-11                     161870 miles
oil / filter                              11-12-11                     161870 miles
new ps belt                          11-17-11                     162054 miles
new alternator belt                11-17-11                    162054 miles
catalytic converter                12-07-11                    164573 miles
oil / filter                               02-06-12                    166732 miles
oil / filter                               05-12-12                    171458 miles
rotate tires                            05-12-12                    171458 miles
oil / filter                               07-08-12                    175338 miles
oil / filter                               09-07-12                    180302 miles
air filter                                 09-07-12                    180302 miles
rotate tires                            09-07-12                    180302 miles
new fan motor                      09-17-12                    184909 miles
oil / filter                               09-17-12                    184909 miles
oil / filter                               01-20-13                    188455 miles
rotate tires                            01-20-13                    188455 miles
air filter                                02-02-13                     189202 miles
oil / filter                              04-14-13                     193567 miles
rotate tires                           05-27-13                     196786 miles
oil / filter                              06-23-13                     199260 miles
new front tires (2)                07-30-13                     202188 miles
oil / filter                              08-20-13                     204198 miles
front brake pads                  09-10-13                     205705 miles
air filter                                09-22-13                     206956 miles
new rear tires (2)                 11-02-13                      209098 miles
oil / filter                              11-23-13                      211345 miles
oil / filter                               01-08-14                     214943 miles
rotate tires                            03-04-14                     222124 miles
oil / filter                               03-10-14                     222657 miles
air filter                                 03-10-14                     222657 miles
oil / filter                               05-09-14                     226756 miles
rotate tires                            05-30-14                     228468 miles
air filter                                 06-08-14                     230167 miles
oil / filter                               06-08-14                     230167 miles
spark plugs                           06-13-14                     230489 miles
ignition wires                         06-13-14                     230489 miles
replace left ball joint              07-08-14                     232098 miles
oil / filter                               08-08-14                     233975 miles
rotate tires                            09-04-14                     235832 miles
replace right ball joint            09-11-14                     236387 miles
sold                                      09-19-14                     237395 miles

As you can see, it takes a lot of work and a lot of money to keep a truck on the road!  In fifteen years my Tacoma had 49 oil and oil filter changes (I could probably do it blindfolded now), 12 air filter changes, 5 sets of spark plugs (I changed all of those myself), 5 sets of tires, and lots of other maintenance items.  Plus, that truck burned through a huge amount of gasoline in 15 years (I estimate over 10000 gallons)!

Kellogg, ID

Yesterday morning we drove up to Laurel, MT, got on I-90 and headed west.  We passed Big Timber, Livingston, Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, and headed out of Montana and into Idaho.

We stopped for the night in Wallace, ID - an old mining town with a scenic old downtown.  The area is beautifully forested mountain country, but you don't dare sit down and have a picnic on the ground - all of the soil is badly contaminated with lead and other metals from the mining industry!

This morning we got into the Toyota and headed 8 miles down the highway to Kellogg, ID.  This is another small struggling former mining town that is home to Dave Smith Motors - the world's largest Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership and the largest Chevy dealer in the northwest!  People at work recommended this dealer to us and we were going to give it a try.

We stepped into the showroom shortly after 7:00 AM and the salesman, a young guy named Lee started helping us search through the inventory for the used Silverado or Ram we were looking for.  Before long I asked him how much a new one would cost and this is where the salesman got excited and things started to take off!

We picked out a base model 2014 Ram 1500.  The MSRP for this truck is $36,000.  But the dealer only charged us what they were invoiced - $33,000.  The dealership gets a $1,000 residual on each vehicle if they meet their quota, and they almost always do because they are so busy!

The manager took the Toyota for a quick test drive.  They took the average of Kelly Blue Book, NADA, and another service to determine what the truck was worth.  They were going to give us $1,500 for it, but the front fender needed to be painted before the truck could be passed on to the auto auction.  They deducted $500 for the painting.

So, from $33,000, he applied $3,000 in rebates.  Then they gave us $1,000 for our Toyota trade-in.  Finally, Bob and I wrote checks totaling $7,000 down payment.  We had to finance about $22,000.  We also financed about $1,100 for the Wyoming Sales Tax.

Bob's credit score came up to 690 (up from 630 when we checked last week).  This got him a 6.9% interest rate.

Later we were sent to an office to visit with Austin who fills in the title and security agreement paperwork.  He was trying to sell us the Lifetime Bumper-To-Bumper warranty, but it was going to add $60 per month to the payment and we were reluctant to put anything else on.  He asked us, "What if I could get this for you without raising your monthly payment?  Wouldn't that make it worth it?" 

He said, "We do so much business with these banks, we can beat them up sometimes.  We have a few coupons we can apply each month.  Now, realize that we might not be able to do this next month."  We both nodded.  He got the interest rate down to 4.49% and the lifetime warranty only cost an extra $3 per month!

While this was going on, the salesman had the truck detailed for us.  After we came out, we had the temporary tag put in the back window and we started to transfer everything from the Toyota into the Ram.  I also took the plates off of the Toyota and put Buddy into the new truck.  Then I turned the keys over to the dealer.

The Tacoma will go to an auto auction where a private citizen will buy it for their kid, or a small used car dealer will buy it and put it on their lot.

So we left Kellogg, ID with a new 2014 Ram 4x4.  It has a 5.7 liter Hemi V-8.  It has an Ecoboost feature that cuts half of the engine off when it is running under light load.  This feature allows the truck to get over 21 miles per gallon.

We are returning to Wyoming now, but we are going to do a little bit of tourism tomorrow before we go back to the house. 

This was an exciting day for us!

Post 2500

When I bought my 1996 Toyota Tacoma on June 1, 1999, I did not think I would be driving it 15 years and 200,000 miles later.  But, here we are, and it is now time to trade it in.  We are driving to Idaho on Thursday to visit Dave Smith Motors in Kellogg, ID and we will hopefully return with a new(er) larger 4-wheel drive truck.

Bob canned 8 quarts of pears on Monday night and he canned 7 pints of dill pickle chips last night. 

Today is my Friday.  I really don't care for night shift, but you have to take the good with the bad.  My sleep gets so messed up when I am on nights.

The weather has returned to what you would expect for this time of year.  We are having 40's at night and 70's during the day.  Yes, this is a good time to go to Idaho before Old Man Winter closes the mountain passes on the highway.

Clark, Wyoming

It dropped into the 20's last night.  We had our potatoes and tomatoes covered with plastic, but the tomatoes were not completely covered and I think they are finished.  The potatoes suffered too, but only the parts of the plant that were touching the plastic.

Temps rose into the 60's today, but it was windy all day.

Gordy brought us 900 gallons of water today.  That should keep us going for a few weeks.

We started putting the wire fence around the chicken coop yard today.  Tomorrow I am going to line the bottom 24 inches with 1/2-inch hardware cloth and build a gate into the yard.  We also need to fence a transition from the yard to the pop door on the side of the coop and build a ladder for the girls to climb back into their house.

The hens have layed six eggs so far.  Today I found two eggs in the nest boxes!  One brown and one blue! 

Tomorrow we are going to Powell to wash laundry and fill the gas tank.  Tomorrow evening we are going to the Edelweiss Saloon to watch a benefit concert.  Arnie Flores from work will be playing with his band.

Snow

On my way to Cody to work on Monday evening I was traveling east on WY 120 and approaching the 106 mile marker.  Suddenly the right side of the truck dropped, a cloud of dust went up, and dreadful dragging and scraping sound came from under the truck.  Yes, the passenger side ball joint failed!

I took my foot off of the gas pedal and began pumping the brake.  I still had control, so I carefully steered it over to the right side of the road and onto the shoulder.

Once I got it stopped, I called Bob to let him know what happened.  Then I called Chris Schuler to see if he could come pick me up.  Finally I called USAA to arrange for towing the truck in to Cody.

Work this week was very slow.  We did not have very much production going on.  Tim was out all week and Lorie was our supervisor.

Arnie Flores came out to Clark to take me to work Tuesday and Wednesday evening.  It rained both days.  Man, we have had quite a bit of rain this summer! 

Last night it dropped to 32°F and began to snow.  About 4 inches fell in Cody. 

Arnie dropped me off at Technical Cowboy and I picked up the truck.  The road had slush and ice for the first half of the trip home, so I had to be careful.

It is supposed to drop to 28° tonight.  We have our tomatoes and potatoes covered up with plastic sheet.  We fed the chickens extra food and treats, and we have a small fire going in the wood stove right now.  Incredibly, temps will be in the 60's and 70's for the rest of the month!

Clark, Wyoming

Today was a beautiful day with no clouds in the sky.  Despite the sunshine, it was not too hot - high in the 70's.  The forecast for this week calls for cooler temps with highs in the 40's and 50's, and possibly frost on Tuesday night.

After taking Buddy for his morning walk, I checked on the hens to make sure they had water and feed.  I checked their nest boxes too.  In Nest Box No. 3, I found a small brown egg!  Our first egg!

Since it is brown and not blue-green, I am guessing one of our Barred Plymouth Rock hens laid it.  Now we will have to be sure to check the nest boxes each morning.

After a breakfast of pancakes, link sausages, and sliced bananas, I got one of the folding tables out and set it up by the door.  Then I got some clamps and fastened the back splash for our bar down to the table.  Using a long straight edge, I made a tapered line from 3/8-inch above the bottom tapering down to zero.  We borrowed Gordy's motorized belt sander and used it to sand the bottom of the back splash to the penciled line.  We got the back splash to fit perfectly!

We applied a generous bead of Liquid Nails construction adhesive to the back of the board and pressed it into place under the bar.  We both held it in place for 10 minutes.  Later I put a bead of matching brown caulk along the seams.  It looks really nice.

With that out of the way, we went to the bedroom to rearrange the diplomas and certificates on the wall behind our bedroom door.  We arranged everything into two columns with Bob's associates degree and bachelors degree (framed copies) on the left, and my degrees on the right side.

Then I had to get down on my back on the bathroom floor and figure out why the bathroom sink drain was still leaking.  It turns out the tail piece below the stopper ball valve thingy was leaking.  I did not know this, but it screws in.  We pulled it completely out, wrapped the threads with teflon tape, screwed it tightly back together, and put the drain back in.  Now it is nice and dry under our vanity and it should stay that way for a long long time.

We never got around to putting the wire fence up on the chicken run.  Instead we watched the Bridegroom movie again and napped.  I need my naps - I am staying up late and trying to sleep during the day to get ready for night shift.

Hello Night Shift

Yesterday was my last day on day shift for six weeks.  We are starting night shift on Monday.

Bob and Buddy rode down to Cody with me yesterday morning.  While I was working Bob got a haircut, took the truck in to have the tires rotated, laundered the kitchen curtain fabric, and browsed the farmers' market. 

I called Bob 30 minutes before my lunch and asked him to go to Wendy's and bring me a double with fries and Coke.  I also asked him to order 8 snack sized Frosties.  I got a Frosty for each person on our crew.  When Bob arrived with the food, I let him in the locked front door and he ate with us in the break room.

This morning we started working on our fenced chicken yard again.  We have the framing all done.  Tomorrow we will begin stretching the wire fence around it and we will make a gate/person door for it too.

Today was payday and I had my regular paycheck deposit in my account as well as a bonus of almost $3000!  I completely paid off Lowe's and Bank of America.  Later we went to Cody and picked up chicken feed, bag of dog food, two new shirts, and a replacement bathroom sink drain.

The sink drain that the sink/vanity in the master bath came with was cheap plastic and it broke and was leaking all over the inside of the vanity cabinet.  We replaced it with a sturdy all-metal one.

We borrowed Gordy's belt sander today too.  In the morning I am going to sand part of the bottom down on the backsplash that goes behind our wood slab bar top.  We are going to sand it down until it just slides up under the wooden part.  Then we will permanently fasten it down with Liquid Nails construction adhesive.

I hope I can get a few things done before I rotate back to nights.

Promotions

Today at work we got an email message from HR announcing recent personnel promotions.  I almost died laughing when I saw that our supervisor, Tim Hadaway, was promoted to Supervisor II. 

A couple of months ago, when we were turning in our Reverse Appraisals, Tim knew that Chris and Lorie had read my appraisal, and he was furtively asking them what I had written.  I overheard this, and I boldly stepped up and said, "You have nothing to worry about.  In fact, we've put you in for early promotion to Supervisor II!"  Everyone was doubled over laughing because we didn't think the position actually existed!

I told Tim, that when I said that, I just made that up off of the top of my head - I didn't even know the position existed when I said it.  He said, "I didn't know it existed either, until last week!"  We all laughed again.

Brad Bothwell and Franky Woods were promoted to Operator III; Chris Schuler and Arnie Flores were promoted to Operator II.  Mark Vondersaar has been promoted to management and they have posted his supervisor job.  There were a few other promotions and transfers noted.

Long boring day.   We spent about 6 hours doing non-production work.  Tomorrow morning we are going to start lot of EME and we will probably work on that all day.

Labor Day

Some dramatic clouds came down over the Beartooth front this morning and it sprinkled for a little while.  I didn't think we were going to get to work outside today on our chicken coop run, but soon the sun came out and we had a great day to work!

We worked on framing the run until we ran out of 3-inch deck screws.  We will get it finished next weekend after I get more screws, another 4x4, and some 2x4s.  Then all we have to do is stretch the wire fencing over the frame and secure it.  Then pour Quickcrete into the post holes and backfill the trenches.

After this I got the spacer boards glued and nailed to the back of the counter in the kitchen.  We need to have the backsplash cut down about 1/4 inch and have it shortened 1-1/2 inches.  Then we will put it onto the countertop with Liquid Nails.  Once it has dried fast, I will caulk the corners with brown caulk, and that will be that.

We also moved the wood box around to the front of the house and moved all of the wood to it.  This puts it convenient to the door when we will need to go out and get wood this winter.  After I get the coop run done, any wood we did not use is going to be cut down short enough to go into the stove.

I need to get a shower and shave my face - I have to go to Cody and work tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday.  I get paid on Friday, and I am off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

Thinking about putting in some PTO so that we can travel to Kellogg, ID and shop for a new(er) truck to get us through the winter.  Time for making any long road trips is starting to run short - winter is going to be here again before we know it!